Category: Contest

Contest / Events / Flat Amount

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Taking Submissions: Tales From The Moonlit Path Halloween Challenge

Deadline: October 13th, 2022
Prize: $50
Theme: Using a quote from the image blow to craft a story

Welcome to our annual Halloween Challenge! Brought to you by Mr. Jason Voorhees himself along with all of the other gruesome nasties we’ve paid homage to over the years. Below you will find a list of 16 movie quotes (okay, we made one up). Your challenge is to take one movie quote and turn it into a story any way you see fit. Of course, we don’t want a retelling of the movie the quote is from, we want an original from you, simply use the quote as a guide. You do not have to use the actual quote in your story, but it’s perfectly ok if you do!

Please write at the top of your submission which quote you are using.

$50 goes to the grand prize winner!

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Contest / Events / Flat Amount

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Taking Submissions: The Mike Resnick Memorial Award 2023

Deadline: April 1st, 2023
Award: First Place Prize: A trophy, $250.00 and have their story bought (at the magazine’s prevailing rate) by Galaxy’s Edge. Second place winner $100 and the third place a prize of $50.
Theme: New science fiction short story by a new author

This is an annual award sponsored by Galaxy’s Edge magazine (published by Arc Manor) and Dragon Con that celebrates new authors. As well as publishing hundreds of books as author and editor, Mike Resnick was known for his “Writer Children”—paying it forward by helping new writers start their careers. This award was created to honor his memory and continue on his legacy by spotlighting the wonderful new voices in the writing world.

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For more information on eligibility and how to submit, Submissions Guidelines can be found on this page underneath the winner announcement for the 2022 award!

WINNER OF THE 2022 AWARD

Galaxy’s Edge magazine and Dragon Con have the pleasure of announcing the 2022 winner for THE MIKE RESNICK MEMORIAL AWARD for Best Science Fiction Short Story by a New Author:

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WINNER

“What Would You Pay for a Second Chance?” by Chris Kulp

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FIRST RUNNER-UP

“Seedpod” by Ellen Parent

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SECOND RUNNER-UP

“On the Left” by Sandra Sigienski

Congratulations to our winner and finalists, and thank you to all the talented authors who submitted entries for award consideration! Mike Resnick would have so loved to have been here to witness this achievement!

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SUBMISSIONS ARE NOW OPEN FOR 2023!

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Contest / Events / Flat Amount / Online

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Taking Submissions: Short Story Substack September 2022 Window (Early Listing)

Submission Window: September 1st-30th, 2022
Payment: $100 for the chosen story + 50% of subscription revenue
Theme: Any genre, short story

Changing the world, one story at a time

Mission = Revive the art of the short story, support artists, and produce something wonderful.

Payout = Base Pay of $100 for the chosen story + 50% of subscription revenue to be sent by Paypal, Zelle, or check.

Wait, you mean if this substack gets thousands of subscribers, the winner would get thousands of dollars?

Yes! The New Yorker pays roughly $7,500 per story and I sincerely hope to go way past that.

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Contest / Events / Flat Amount / Novella

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Taking Submissions: Tales By Moonlight Novella Competition

Deadline: September 15th, 2022
Prizes: $1000 grand prize, $500 editor’s award
Theme: fiction and magic

Competition details
Tales By Moonlight is a novella writing competition. The theme of this contest is fiction and magic. Release your imagination and let your creative juices run free!
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Contest / Events / Flash / Flat Amount / Poetry

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Taking Submissions: Apparition Lit July 2022 Contest

Submission Window: July 1st-14th, 2022
Prize: $30.
Theme: Inspired by the image above

Apparition Lit is a speculative fiction magazine that publishes themed issues four times a year.

We publish poems and stories between 1k-5k words in January, April, July, and October. We also hold monthly flash fiction contests between the 1st and 15th of each month. Flash stories must be under a 1000 words and be inspired or based on the chosen theme. Full details for submission guidelines are below.

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Artwork / Contest / Events / Flash / Flat Amount / Magazine / Pro

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Taking Submissions: Elegant Literature June 2022 Window

Deadline: June 30th, 2022
Payment: 10 cents per word for acceptance into the magazine, $3,000 prize for the contest (contest has submission fees, the magazine does not.) $200 for artwork
Theme: Fearless Friendship

Who would you call to bail you out of jail? Is there a friend good enough to drop what they’re doing and lend a hand? No, of course not, because they’re locked up right beside you…

Our stories are full of fearless friendships: from grand quests fighting evil to owners rescuing pets. But fearless doesn’t need to be heroic. It can be that friend who’s always up for anything. Pushing our comfort zone and forcing us to be brave, or dangerously reckless. Friends stand up for us in hard times, give us a shoulder to cry on, and fight back against our bullies and enemies. They speak their minds when we’re in the wrong. A friend will push us to be better and go further. So what, if they call and ask us to meet them in the woods with a pair of shovels…

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Contest / Events / Flash / Semipro

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Contest: Shallow Waters June Flash Theme

Deadline: May 31st, 2022
Payment: $0.03 per word for the winner, and 2 cents per word and 1 cent for second and third place respectively
Theme: Open Water

Your June theme is…

…Open Water. Whether it’s lost at sea, trapped in a boat, being a stowaway, kidnapped, going down with the ship, etc. But keep it dark and psychologically disturbing.

Bonus challenge: write the story in a pre-21st century setting.
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Contest / Events / Flat Amount / Online

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Contest: 50-Word Stories May 2022 (Early Listing)

Submission Window: May 1st-15th, 2022
Payment: 1 winner each month will win $10 Canadian
Theme: A story at exactly 50-words

If you’d like to have a 50-word story that you wrote featured on FiftyWordStories.com, first make sure that you understand exactly what a 50-word story is, and then read the submission requirements below closely.

Submissions System
Each month, submissions will be open between days 1 and 15 of that month. Any stories received on days 16 to 31 of a month will be deleted, but can be resubmitted the following month. You may only submit one story per month.
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